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Kit Kat's homepage is currently a parody of Android announcement page
- voltagex_ 13y agoThis is great marketing. The corresponding Google page is good, too. http://www.android.com/kitkat/ http://www.android.com/kitkat/
- lake99 13y agoLooks like Android has done it too: http://www.android.com/kitkat/ http://www.android.com/kitkat/
- adhipg 13y agoKitKat is the actual name of the next version of Android (4.4). HN discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6321940 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6321940
- ctdonath 13y agoNothing says "solid, responsive, enterprise-grade, consumer-pleasing data access" like candy. (Yes, I know this complaint is old, and dessert/snack is the Android naming theme. Nobody is buying in because of the meme; a lot of people are opting out because of it.)
- Kylekramer 13y agoCould be way off, but I find the idea that people are opting out of Android due to dessert names very unlikely. Seems roughly equivalent to OS X (recently retired) cat names and I don't remember people staying away from Mac cause snow leopards don't convey the advantages of owning a Mac. Especially since I'd bet a vanishingly small amount of people who own Androids know the thing that runs their phone even has a code name. Google doesn't even sell Android in boxes with jelly beans on them like Apple used to do with cats.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- drivebyacct2 13y ago> a lot of people are opting out because of it No, they aren't.
- MichaelGG 13y ago>a lot of people are opting out because of it Uh citation that Android version code names affect "a lot" of people? Because I doubt any tech people care, and retail users are buying whatever and not stopping and saying "Oh, code name Jelly Bean? Screw that I'll buy an iPhone."
- ArekDymalski 13y agoMost mormal people don't even know that their phone's OS has such a thing like version, code name etc. Actually there are people who don't know what OS is and which one they use.
- yaddayadda 13y agoWho exactly are "mormal" people?
- ArekDymalski 13y agoPeople who don't care about typos ;)
- tga 13y agoKit Kat's homepage is currently a monstrosity. Scrolling down the page pushes a new history URL every half page, using the back button is then essentially broken (on Firefox at least) and actually getting back to the page that unfortunately sent you there requires something like 20 clicks. Not so bad joke otherwise, but the history hijacking made it a crappy experience and I couldn't close the tab quickly enough.
- ajross 13y agoHonestly: you're being a snob. The page is designed to be scrolled down once, chuckled at, and closed. And I did, and it works for me. Sitting on our high horses and demanding that Nestle's corporate IT department churn out a site worthy of YC-driven-multi-round-venture-funding is counterproductive and unkind. They had a cute idea, probably on short notice, and they got it done. I will say that I'm actually really liking this sort of whimsy. It's distressingly rare in the bigcorp world (even in candy, I guess) to see companies poke fun at their established products like this. I like it. I still won't eat them though.
- ctdonath 13y agoand closed. If you didn't "Open In New Tab" the link, and value the current tab's browsing history, this will be very annoying via "back back back back back aw crap how far must I go back back click-hold-back good grief click meh that was fun until it wasn't."
- untog 13y agoor hold down on the back button.
- mcv 13y agoMy browser can display the entire history and allows me to skip right to where I want to go.
- ulisesrmzroche 13y ago
- brokenparser 13y agoThe site is beautifully written using the latest HTML10 standard.
- RyJones 13y agoDo watch the video at the end.
- unoti 13y agoMy favourite part of it is how he pronounces portrait as "Pour Trait". It makes me wish I'd learned to speak English where they talk like that, or it at least makes me laugh.
- interpol_p 13y agoHow else do you pronounce portrait?
- stan_rogers 13y agoIn most of North America, at least, it would be something like por'trit (the second syllable is much de-emphasized, but the vowel is closer to a short i than a schwa).
- blibble 13y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKOrkLxOBoY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKOrkLxOBoY is a very well done parody!
- mcv 13y agoThis is utter genius! Best product tie-in ever. Nice scrolling effects too. Almost enough to make me buy a KitKat.
- kbar13 13y ago"2 megabites, 4 megabites, or a chunky bites option" I died.
- sobering 13y agoThis definitely got me as well.
- lquist 13y agoThe video is clearly a sendup of an Apple product announcement.
- fudged71 13y agoIt reminded me of the Mac Pro product page http://www.apple.com/ca/mac-pro http://www.apple.com/ca/mac-pro
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoRight! Especially the animated dissection of the KitKat bar and copy like “Thanks to its world-renowned, tri-core, wafer thin CPU with full chocolate coverage.”.
- nostromo 13y agoI was laughing at this parody. Then, I found myself wanting a KitKat. Perhaps there's something to this presentation style after all!
- haimez 13y agoI'm only a little ashamed to admit, I bought a KitKat today.
- citricsquid 13y agoDid you run your finger along the tinfoil to cut it perfectly in half? That is a staple of every Britons childhood.
- markng 13y agoHaving moved from the UK to the US, it makes me angry and disappointed that they don't use the paper/foil packaging here, so you can't do that :/
- Lockyy 13y agoI haven't seen a paper/foil packaged kitkat in years, and this is in the UK. It seems they've abandoned it completely, which is saddening.
- citricsquid 13y agoThe 2 finger multi-packs (x8) have them, sold in Tesco and probably the other large supermarkets, I ate one (for the first time in a long time) yesterday and it was paper + tinfoil + delicious.
- adestefan 13y agoThe mini KitKats in the US are still wrapped in paper, too.
- aram 13y agoWTF at the small print at the bottom of the page
- thorum 13y agoThat's the best part.
- dsego 13y agoReminds me more of the apple's mac pro page http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/.
- untog 13y agoThis honestly makes me wonder: what is the point of web sites for stuff like KitKat? Clearly, they can replace the entire thing for the purposes of a joke so it can't be that high up there. Who visits those sites? What do they do on them? The Nestle/Hersheys site, sure. Standard corporate stuff. But a site specifically for KitKat? EDIT: there seems to be some confusion in the replies. I am not talking about this joke web site that was put up today. I am talking about the normal kitkat.com that has been around forever.
- shin_lao 13y agoPeople will visit the web page because it's funny. It features a lot of pictures of Kit Kat. Geeks love junk food and might serve themselves a treat, a why not, a Kit Kat just after watching this. This process is called advertisement. Guess what? It works.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- ok_craig 13y agoYou don't have to remember the ad, you just have to have a subconscious desire to pick one up when you see it in the impulse buy zone at your grocery store.
- gkoberger 13y agoThat's not how marketing works. Has anyone ever seen a TV commercial and said "meh, I can guess how this episode ends -- I'm going out to get a Pepsi!"?
- trafficlight 13y agoMy wife will do that. Advertising works extremely well on her.
- JoeAltmaier 13y agoAds exist for lots of reasons. Sometimes just to remind regular customers of the brand, prompting them to buy again. Some are to bring in new customers. This one? Who knows.
- chris_wot 13y ago"Don't be evil" and "Nestlé", not a combination you see that often.
- oneeyedpigeon 13y agoMore info. for those unaware of just how evil a coporation Nestlé is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaJjPRwExO8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaJjPRwExO8
- lake99 13y agoOh come on! Be fair. This is the greenpeace website, not "corporate propaganda": http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/Sweet-success-for-Kit-Kat-campaign/ http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/Swe... If you want a news report, you could read http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/05/nestle-greenpeace-sourcing-of-palm-oil/ http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/05/nestle-greenpeace-sourci... instead.
- yellow 13y agoI just realized how important the number 4 in this whole deal. #classickitkat
- Taig 13y agoEven the page itself comes around with 4.4 MB of data to load. And the mobile version still weighs 2.2 MB ...
- aniro 13y agoIt is fascinating to look at the execution of the Google page vs the Nestle page. Seems like a near perfect real world example of "HOW TO" and "HOW NOT TO" accomplish modern web design.
- lmartel 13y agoWhich one is which?
- MiguelHudnandez 13y agoYou don't launch a "specially marked wrapper" without two marketing teams talking to each other for months beforehand, so this shouldn't be a big surprise. But still, very cute.
- kanja 13y agoLove the easter egg - try "haveabreak" or "up up down down left right left right b a" :)
- sandbochs 13y agoCheck out jQuery Raptorize.
- nilliams 13y agoKonami fun can also be found on wired.co.uk, sometimes in raptor form, other-times not.
- fphhotchips 13y agoNote: If it doesn't work the first time, try a few more times. The image may not load the first time and it rotates images. I was very disappointed it didn't work the first few times.
- markdown 13y agoA well executed konami-js https://github.com/snaptortoise/konami-js https://github.com/snaptortoise/konami-js
- drewblaisdell 13y agoGreat parody. I suppose this is a relevant article to attach this question. What is the general consensus on using the scroll event to trigger animations/content changes? I am working on an article that uses animations to help explain scientific processes and triggering these with the scroll position seems to offer many advantages over having the user keep clicking a next button. I know where they are on the page and can display the relevant part of an animation. This style gets a lot of hate on HN, which is why I want to ask: is there a better way?
- simantel 13y agoDoes it get much hate, though? Snowfall and The Jockey, the NYT pieces, use scroll to trigger pretty much everything, and they received tons of attention both here and in more mainstream media outlets.
- alexcroox 13y agoI think what people liked the most about those was the use of truly rich media (html5 video) to compliment the article. The use of the scroll wheel was a novelty add on. When everything is reliant on the scroll it's pretty annoying.
- drewblaisdell 13y agoThe interactive NYT pieces get lots of attention and praise, but I remember seeing at least one critic on HN write "is scrolling the new Flash?" and a lot of discussion about how the scrolling animation in articles tends to be superfluous.
- kevincennis 13y agoI think it really depends on how you do it. I find that I get annoyed by sites that use scrolling as a means to navigate between sections that aren't really sequential. Something like a product page with Features, Tech Specs, Pricing, etc. those are things I want to be able to navigate to in a nonlinear way. If you have content that lends itself to serialization or whatever you want to call it, the scrolling effects work a lot better. At that point, it just becomes an embellishment - because the user already expects to be scrolling.
- kken 13y agoIt almost crashed my firefox. wtf.
- kposehn 13y agoBrilliant. Brilliant brilliant brilliant. I'm still chuckling at the "tiny print" at the bottom of the page. I'm going to go check and see if #GrannyEyed is trending now.
- drivebyacct2 13y agoThat video is so incredibly clearly mocking Ivy, not Duarte.
- gojomo 13y agoTry to bring a standard-formula KitKat to a warm-weather climate, and you'll realize the promises of "Universal Compatibility" and "Unlimited Stand-By Time" are dangerous, messy puffery. Where's the FTC when we need them? (KitKat does use a different melt-resistant formula in hot places like Malaysia: http://www.nestleprofessional.com/uk/en/SiteArticles/Pages/Facts_About_KitKat.aspx?jse=0 http://www.nestleprofessional.com/uk/en/SiteArticles/Pages/F... )
- jonli1 13y agoTheir js is not uglified. Here's the easteregg. function initEasterEgg() { var pattern = "72658669656682696575"; //haveabreak var userPattern = ""; var code = "38384040373937396665"; var userCode = ""; $(document).keydown(function(event) { var p = pattern.substr(userPattern.length,2); var c = code.substr(userCode.length,2); var r = Math.floor((Math.random()*3)+1); if(event.which == p) { userPattern += event.which; if(userPattern === pattern) { $( "body" ).append( "<div id='eeDroid'><img src='assets/desktop/images/misc/droid" + r + ".png' /></div>" ); $('#eeDroid').animate({bottom:'0px'},500).animate({left:'-600px'},2000, function() { $(this).remove(); }); userPattern = ""; } } else { userPattern = ""; } if(event.which == c) { userCode += event.which; if(userCode === code) { $( "body" ).append( "<div id='eeDroid'><img src='assets/desktop/images/misc/droid" + r + ".png' /></div>" ); $('#eeDroid').animate({bottom:'0px'},500).animate({left:'-600px'},2000, function() { $(this).remove(); }); userCode = ""; } } else { userCode = ""; } }); }
- bsimpson 13y agoAs hinted in the comment, just type "haveabreak".
- iguana 13y agoThis is a very clever parody of Android phone marketing. Buying a KitKat to test compatibility.
- marcamillion 13y agoWow...I am surprised how awesome this is. I genuinely feel like going out and buying a KitKat. I wonder what the economics of this campaign looks like. Did Google pay Nestle, vice versa or no money change hands? This is awesome....I love to see a big company having fun.
- raarky 13y agoGoogle approached Nestle. No money changed hands according to this article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23926938 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23926938
- marcamillion 13y agoWow....talk about a marketing coup by Nestle. Any company that was approached by Google for something like this - if they never took it...would likely be a very dumb move.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- marcamillion 13y agoEven the 'small print' at the end is awesome: Wow this really is small print isn't it? Look how tiny it is. How are you even reading this? Come to think of it, why are you even reading this?? This is no way to spend your break! You've just read all of that stuff about how awesome the KITKAT 4.4 is and you still haven't run out and got one? Wow, tough crowd. As soon as I finish writing this I'm gonna get one from my secret stash and go drink milk through it like a straw. I have to keep my stash secret because my grandmother looks at me all puppy eyed if I don't share it with her. Is it still puppy eyed if it's your gran? I suppose it would be gran eyed? Or granny eyed? Let's go with granny eyed. I feel like we've just coined a new phrase. Where's the 'trademark' symbol on this keyboard? Ah here it is ™. GrannyEyed™. I wonder if that's legally binding? Hey, let's see if we can get it trending! #GrannyEyed. Tweeted. The Internet has it now. It's out of our hands. I feel like we've just started something epic. Ok, well this was a lovely chat. I'm gonna go and grab that KITKAT now. Fancy a break?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- r3m6 13y agoParody? This is real: http://www.android.com/kitkat/ http://www.android.com/kitkat/ (IMHO a bad move for the Android brand, unless teens are their new main target. But let's see...)
- dman 13y agoIts 2013 and I still cant scroll a webpage smoothly.
- sp332 13y agoSoftware gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.
- bouk 13y agoI like the fine print The small print Wow this really is small print isn't it? Look how tiny it is. How are you even reading this? Come to think of it, why are you even reading this?? This is no way to spend your break! You've just read all of that stuff about how awesome the KITKAT 4.4 is and you still haven't run out and got one? Wow, tough crowd. As soon as I finish writing this I'm gonna get one from my secret stash and go drink milk through it like a straw. I have to keep my stash secret because my grandmother looks at me all puppy eyed if I don't share it with her. Is it still puppy eyed if it's your gran? I suppose it would be gran eyed? Or granny eyed? Let's go with granny eyed. I feel like we've just coined a new phrase. Where's the 'trademark' symbol on this keyboard? Ah here it is ™. GrannyEyed™. I wonder if that's legally binding? Hey, let's see if we can get it trending! #GrannyEyed. Tweeted. The Internet has it now. It's out of our hands. I feel like we've just started something epic. Ok, well this was a lovely chat. I'm gonna go and grab that KITKAT now. Fancy a break?
- lcedp 13y agoAndroid KitKat is the first product placement I remember which doesn't annoy me. In fact I fancy it.
- kyro 13y agoYou're a fool if you think Kit Kat isn't also conspiring with the NSA.
- methodin 13y agoI'd like to see more clever marketing and partnerships like this. It is certainly more interesting than bland marketing and targeted ads.
- spyder 13y agoand it isn't blocked by AdBlock
- prawn 13y agoIt's not a parody so much as it's coordinated marketing that has thoroughly bewitched Google's target market. If it were a natural parody, I think I'd be more receptive.
- programminggeek 13y agoI wish this page style would just go away.
- HCIdivision17 13y agoToday I learned the KitKat bar can be used as a straw and that the wrapper can tear to only expose on finger. If this is true, I may very well stock up for use with my coffee at the office!
- tomelders 13y agoOne of the worlds most evil companies made a funny website.
- fredley 13y agoThe execution is flawless, I wonder if Google lent them some engineers for this?
- cmircea 13y agoThis is absolutely fucking brilliant. Loved it!
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- eagsalazar2 13y agoPretty good. A couple distracting details though: (1) disgusting closeup of girl's nostril, (2) Nestle is run by f-ing Satan! Associating with them in any way is a bad move for a company that supposedly follows a rule of "don't be evil".
- lnanek2 13y agoWow, the KitKat page is much better actually. Clouds fly by, candy gets chomped and rotates. An Android peeks down from an edge. Android page was just scrolling through some static images.
- olalonde 13y agoI've always wondered how those companies (Nestle in this case) can measure the effectiveness of such one off advertising campaigns. After all, more people might buy Kit Kats in the following days but since consumers do not buy directly from Kit Kat, it might take some time before retailers realize they should order larger quantities of Kit Kat and due to this delay Nestle might never know which advertising campaign was successful. Does anyone know how this works?
- fpgeek 13y agoI'm sure they'll know a lot more about how well the Android-branded Kit Kats are selling (which is probably a better indicator of the success of the campaign anyway).
- unreal37 13y agoI've worked on the web site for a few big global brands. Believe it or not, there are companies out there (like Spire [1]) that can link web visitors to actual in-store sales. I was involved with a client last year who ran a report matching registered users from their site to in store buyers, to measure how much their users actually spend on their products. It's hit and miss, frankly. But for a campaign like this, I am sure the web and marketing teams are overjoyed if their web traffic doubles over the course of a week. That would be counted as a major win. Marketing drives to measurable metrics (like hits) and we let the sales teams worry about sales. Also, there are analytics people using tools tonight counting mentions across the web. How many impressions through mentions is huge in the marketing space. "50 million people heard about the new KitKat homepage through news articles!" This campaign will be submitted to Cannes next year and possibly win a Gold Lion. [1] http://www.spirenow.com/ http://www.spirenow.com/
- mortenjorck 13y agoThis is beautifully executed and quite fun, but it's not riffing on the Android announcement page nearly as much as it is on Apple's Mac Pro announcement page: http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ The Android page is a brief history of the OS, while the Mac Pro page is an animated product brochure, which is what this really is.
- rch 13y agoI wish I could up-vote the page directly. That's quite a lot of fun.
- triplesec 13y agoIt still tastes rubbish and is full of sugar. Not food, not cool.
- nilliams 13y agoYour opinion, personally I'm a sucker for a peanut KitKat Chunky.
- NathanthePie 13y agoGood gosh. Kudos to Nestle and Android, but I cannot stand that website design.
- natemcguire 13y agogreat marketing campaign.
- mehmehshoe 13y agoWas I the only one thinking that video at the end was taking a dig at Mark Shuttleworth? Great bit of funny marketing regardless.
- Miserlou57 13y agoDear God do not try to hit "back" on that page having scrolled all the way through...
- Mikeb85 13y agoOmg, now I have a craving for Kit Kats. And the webpage is hilarious and fantastic...
- dutchrapley 13y ago100% awesome.
- ChuckMcM 13y agoI thought this was really clever, and interestingly desperate. Maybe I've been around too long but there is always a warning twitch I get when tech companies get too cute. Sort of a "you're really trying too hard here." I enjoyed the parody, I agree with others here that it was totally planned by the Google team ahead of time, but the shift in pure marketroidness, well it was just kinda "eww."
- marginalboy 13y agoThey messed up my "back" button. Party foul.
- shire 13y agoKit Kat's rival, http://www.twix.com/ http://www.twix.com/. Personally Kit Kat is not even that good, high in sugar or something. I think twix is much tastier, nevertheless I think this is a brilliant design.
- jbkkd 13y agoThis crashes the browser on Windows Phone 7.5. Am I not allowed to have a kitkat?